I’ve been working on this game for over 3 years now.
So far, there are more than 25 thousand lines of code and more than 3 thousand hours of work.
It is now in the Beta stage.
There’s an interactive, step-by-step tutorial at the start of the game that teaches you some of the basics of how it works.
There is an internal online help and also the site with the complete manual: FactoryBlox – FactoryBlox Game
Several tests have already been done, but, you know, unknown problems can always appear.
Could you help me test it?
Happened while following the tutorial; after placing the assembler and being prompted to click the ‘page help’ button. Also would be nice if the error messages auto-disappeared after some time (they didn’t disappear after >20s).
Would be cool if conveyors moved your character. (AssemblyLinearVelocity on the conveyor part)
Network recv was consistently at 120kB/s with only me in the server after completing the tutorial. The roblox-defined target is 50kB/s, but you can easily go over it and 120/s should be fine. Might cause issues with more assets/players in-game though (if it rises like that per extra plot/player).
Bought 4M coins and it immediately gave me lvl2, around 30s wait for reaching lvl3 and the same for reaching lvl4. Ideally it should prompt the next ‘leveled up’ screen immediately after dismissing the previous screen. If it’s of any help: the bottom coins balance was updated immediately; no delay for that.
For my preference and computer display, some text should be larger. It’s readable, but not easily readable (and there’s still plenty of room left in the frame). Using TextScaled would probably be handy. Also another language is used for the ‘Storeroom’ info text.
Also I don’t understand the ‘maps’ concept. Some plots were bought by other players, but there’s still the option to ‘search for the plot on another map’. Are maps basically servers, where the plots are owned by players, and everything on that plot is saved? I also found the maps UI a little confusing/overwhelming. Also no music played when selecting maps.
I’d also like a way to move/rotate existing objects, instead of having to delete them.
And perhaps a way to curve/turn conveyors without having to use connectors? I would like to be able to use the same loading/unloading station for both buying, and selling products. The way I see it is that for now, you can only do either but not both (automatically atleast).
This chart is nice. A similar chart for earnings/losses would be very handy. Also I think electricity costs money in-game? If it does, then the current electricity price should also be displayed somewhere.
Please make the precise positioning (holding ctrl) the default. I spent a long time trying to line up everything for a 4 port assembler. It never worked with default positioning, only with the ctrl positioning. I personally think it’s much more intuitive to have precise positioning as the default.
There are no arrows for the lvl3 and lvl4 conveyors (didn’t check lvl5), this makes it impossible to see which direction they’re going in.
Most importantly: my plot didn’t save!?
I built some stuff on ‘plot 12’ of ‘map 2’, rejoined the game and that plot was still owned by me. I spawned at it, but it’s an empty plot now. Are we supposed to do manual saves? Possibly a bug.
Anyways the game is very high quality, and I can easily see the amount of work that went into it. The music tracks are absolutely perfect (how many are there lol).
I think the biggest worry would be multiplayer gameplay. Multiplayer tends to be the biggest factor in replayability, especially on roblox. As there’s not that many players on the game for now, I don’t know how multiplayer works in the game, so here’s some suggestions:
Allow other players to manage and build your plots (co-owners)
Easily visiting other player plots
Item/money trading (this is already in-game from what I’ve read?)
Hello, your report was very valuable for the improvement of this game.
Below, I will highlight your comments and the actions that have been (or will be) taken:
Fixed.
It was supposed to disappear in 60 seconds, but I put it in 20 seconds. I also took the opportunity to improve this popup, and now it shows a countdown of seconds until the popup is closed.
The conveyor mechanism is not based on roblox physics, but on mathematical calculations of the displacement of the materials that go on it, to avoid processing overload and be accurate in counting the parts produced. In this way, this will not be possible.
This is caused by updating the CFrame of the materials that are moved on the conveyors. The position of each material is calculated on the server. Initially this was done in LocalScript, but to avoid tampering by exploiters, I decided to pass this part of the algorithm to the server. So far I haven’t noticed glitches, but I’m aware of it.
Fixed. Now, even if you buy coins that get you to 2 levels at once, you’ll get new level notice windows for each level in sequence (which detail all the new achievements unlocked for each level reached).
I increased the font sizes of the equipment descriptions and made the texts stand out better.
There was a failure in the Roblox translation database. I had to delete and re-include the translation to get this working again.
Indeed, a map corresponds to a server.
There are future plans to make maps with different layouts, but for now, the same map is duplicated “around” the current map, as explained on the official documentation website: General Map – FactoryBlox.
Currently, This map currently has 13 lots (First Steps – FactoryBlox).
A player buys a lot, enters the map and builds on that lot.
The server from then on will always be the same, that is, your “neighborhood” will always be the same, since everyone will always be on the same server.
You can visit other maps through accesses (portals) that will open as other maps are “inaugurated”, that is, when a player buys a first batch of a new map.
The game also allows you to trade your items with other players from other maps, so you’ll deliver to these maps through these access portals.
That’s not in the game’s plans. You must delete (sell) a piece of equipment, reinsert (buy) it, and place it in the desired position and rotation.
This is a concept that even exists in great games like Satisfactory, Cities Skylines and others.
The game is designed to move equipment and materials within a grid and therefore restricts this movement to 90 degree angles.
But it is something that could be improved in the future.
The concept of “Automatic Sale” and “Automatic Purchase” through Loading/Unloading Stations was introduced later. Originally, the player was supposed to buy supplies in two ways:
From the Government (picking up at the Central Warehouse);
From other players (where the selling player is obliged to deliver the materials to the buyer’s Loading/Unloading Station).
The concept of automatic sale and purchase is a third option to facilitate the purchase from the Government, and for this, the player pays a delivery fee for each purchase.
It is not possible to have both options at the same time in the same Loading/Unloading Station, because when it comes to selling, ALL the materials that are in the slots (stock) of this station are sold within the period that the player configured.
Excellent suggestion. Noted for future versions.
Yes, there are electricity costs. Each piece of equipment consumes a certain amount of kWh and the sum of all functioning equipment will generate an electricity bill, which must be paid periodically. (If the invoice is not paid, the electricity will be disconnected and all equipment will stop working).
Noted, to be implemented in future versions.
I adjusted it so that only the Connector is always placed in a free position (active Ctrl).
In fact, all equipment that is inserted for the first time in your lot is placed with free position. The second equipment onwards of the same type will follow a “snap” of alignment with the previous one, to facilitate insertion.
This was due to a texture load failure that was not properly transmitted by Roblox during the insertion of these conveyors. To avoid this, I created a Preload of these textures at the beginning of the game.
There may have been a problem with the server. Currently, the game is saved with every PlayerRemoving. But I will create an autosave function every 30 seconds just to prevent this from happening again.
That’s why I’m inviting everyone to try it out!
Something to think about in the near future.
This already exists, as explained above.
This is actually one of the MAIN FEATURES of this game. The production and marketing of materials. It is a simulation of real life, of a production chain.
This game can be used in schools and administration courses.
For the conveyor: can’t you use the same formula to move the player if they’re on it?
I understand if it’s too much work for such a simple effect lol.
And yeah periodic auto saving is very important. I have made the same mistake before. Only saving when the player leaves is too risky (data is lost if the server crashes, or the single save fails for some reason). Do make sure to check the data store save limits.
Thanks. I had to stop for a while to treat an aggressive lymphoma, which I already had in 2020. If I can handle this challenge again, I will resume development ASAP.
